Description to topographic map set of Saint Petersburg

In the given article you can easily get some general historical facts of St. Petersburg, find out about major rivers, lakes and canals of this city. It will be interesting for you to know about major islands of Saint Petersburg. Especially for tourists, there is some general information about recreation areas and popular kinds of tourism and the places for rest in St. Petersburg. Reading the article you learn about the most outstanding sights of the city. Moreover, in addition to all this here there is a description of the climate of St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg is the world's utmost northern city, which is located in the northwest of the Russian Federation, within the Prinevskaya lowland, along the Neva Bay coastline near the mouth of the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland and on a large number of islands in the Neva delta.

A great number of rivers, canals and streams play a big role in the life of the city, they are about 53. The Neva River and the Catherine Canal are the main water arteries of the city. St. Petersburg and the neighbouring areas are traversed by such rivers as the Vuoksa, the Ladoga, the Tikhaya and the Syas.

The main bodies of water include the Gulf of Finland, Lake Ladoga, Lake Malaya Ladoga, Lake Komsomolskoye, Lake Balakhanovskoye, Lake Shugozero and Lake Shchuchye. Lake Ladoga (Ladoga) is the largest freshwater lake in Europe.

St. Petersburg is located on 47 islands of the Neva delta, the largest of which is Vasilyevski and Petrogradski. In the Gulf of Finland, the Island of Kotlin is situated. There are a large number of smaller islands in Lake Ladoga, such as Valaam, Riskalansari, Mantsinsari, Kilpola, Tulolansari, Konevets and numerous tiny islands.

Its major attractions include the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Hermitage, the Saviour-on-the-blood Church, the Kazanski Cathedral, Peter II’s palace, Peter the Great’s summer palace and the Peterhof Park, Catherine the Great’s Palace in the Pushkin Park and Kronstadt.

The best-known recreation centres of St. Petersburg are the windsurfing center Svyezhy Vyetyer, the Ladoga River, the Karelian Isthmus, the Vuoksa River, the Losevo Rapids.

The longest ski slopes near St. Petersburg are located in the north of the Karelian Isthmus, where the following ski resorts are located: Zolotaya Dolina, Snyeg and Krasnoye Ozero. Other resorts include Igora, Pukhtolova Gora (Zelenogorsk), Orlinaya Gora and Severny Sklon (Toksanovo - Kavgolovo), the Okhta-Park (located very close to the city) and the Tuutari Park (Mt. Kirchhoff).